BROOKLYN -- The Brookyn Nets avoided playoffs elimination Monday night by pulling away late to beat the Chicago Bulls, 110-91, in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at the Barclays Center.

Leading the best-of-seven series 3-2, the fifth seeded Bulls get another chance to close out the fourth seeded Nets on Thursday night when Game 6 returns to the United Center in Chicago. A Game 7, if necessary, takes place at the Barclays Center on Saturday.

Despite playing catch-up all game long, trailing 52-44 at halftime and 77-73 after three quarters, the Bulls roared back and came to within 85-84 following a jumper by Marco Belinelli at the 8:16 mark of the final period . But unlike Game 4, where they surrendered a 14-point lead in the final 3:12, the Nets held their ground and put this to bed with a 25-7 spurt the rest of the way.

Nets center Brook Lopez led all scorers with 28 points and 10 rebounds while point guard Deron Williams had 23 and 10 assists. Andre Blatche came up big off the bench with 13 points and Gerald Wallace finished with 12 including a big 3 that pushed the Nets ahead, 101-91, with 2:18 to go.

Starting in the place of the injured Kirk Hinrich, point guard Nate Robinson led the Bulls with 20 points and eight assists, but he couldn't recapture his Game 4 heroics, shooting just 9-for-19 form the field.

Jimmy Butler also had 18 for Chicago while Luol Deng added 12 and eight rebounds. Joakim Noah continued to played through a painful plantar fasciitis and tallied 11 points. (RS).